Loading file into array using streamreader

Question

I'm trying to get a file and iterate through it using StreamReader and load each line into an array. I know the file is coming in correctly and it is a text file of data coming in lines.

    Dim req As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create("http://www.blahahahaha.com/data/myfile.csv")
    Dim res As WebResponse = req.GetResponse()
    Dim stream As Stream = res.GetResponseStream()

    Dim lines2 As String()
    Using r As StreamReader = New StreamReader(stream, Encoding.ASCII)
        Dim line As String
        line = r.ReadLine
        Do While (Not line Is Nothing)
            lines2(lineCount2) = r.ReadLine
            lineCount2 += 1
        Loop
    End Using

But the resulting array is empty. What am I doing wrong and how do I fix it?

Answer 1

This line:

Dim lines2 As String()

Just declares that lines2 will be a string array. The array itself is not intialized:

Dim lines2(9) As String     ' THIS one has elements

But since you likely do not know how many lines there will be, use a List:

Dim Lines As New List(Of String)

Using r As StreamReader = New StreamReader(Stream, Encoding.ASCII)
    Dim line As String
    line = r.ReadLine
    Do Until String.IsNullOrEmpty(line)
        Lines.Add(line)
        line = r.ReadLine
    Loop
End Using

If the calling code really needs an array:

Return Lines.ToArray()